New Zealand have taken two massive beatings in the opening two Tests of their home series against England. With the series lost, Tom Latham and Co will be looking to salvage some pride and avoid a whitewash. This is also England’s first Test series win in New Zealand since 2007/08.
The third Test takes the action to Hamilton. Ahead of the game, here are our match preview and predictions.
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England’s batting has been one of the main reasons for their success in this red-ball series. It was Harry Brook with yet another century in the first innings of the second Test as he cemented himself as one of the best red-ball batters out there at the moment, while Ollie Pope also got among the runs. The second innings saw Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell fall in the nineties before the talismanic Joe Root produced yet another stunning knock, scoring his 36th Test century to bat the Kiwis out of the game.
The hosts, on the other hand, collapsed for 125 in their first innings, and chasing 583 was always going to be a daunting task in the second one. Another top-order failure reduced New Zealand to 59/4 before Tom Blundell’s century got them to a respectable 259, and yet they lost by 323 runs.
While their batting hasn’t been consistent, the Kiwis have also managed to bowl out the visitors just twice in four innings, which is another cause for concern. Nathan Smith and Will O’Rourke were among the wickets in the first innings, but there was nothing threatening the visitors in the second innings.
England, meanwhile, have their two new pacers Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse doing the heavy-lifting with the ball and have managed to pick up all 40 wickets in the opening two games. At a spin-friendly track in Hamilton, expect Shoaib Bashir to have a strong outing as well.
Moving to Hamilton for the final Test, the bowlers should be getting some respite after a couple of high-scoring encounters. Expect the spinners to come into play. While the hosts might look to save face at home, the English at the moment are simply too strong. With the momentum on their side, it’s Ben Stokes’s boys who have the advantage to clean sweep the series.
Fantasy XI: Ben Duckett, Tom Latham, Joe Root, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Glenn Phillips, Gus Atkinson, Matt Henry
Venue: Hamilton
Winners Prediction: England
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